Kiwi Telco Digital Island Celebrates a Decade in Business

New Zealand telecommunications company
Digital Island is celebrating 10 years in business this
month – a milestone based on offering the most innovative
products in the industry and its commitment to
“fanatical” customer service.

Digital Island General
Manager Blair Stewart says it’s an exciting time for the
company as it embarks on its second decade.

“We’ve
built our business around providing comprehensive customer
service and tailoring the most innovative products on the
market to suit our customers’ telecommunications needs.
We’re very much here to stay and we’re looking forward
to the next ten years and beyond,” says Stewart.

The
company continues to pioneer the latest technologies,
currently leading the way with the roll out of Cloud PBX, a
cloud-based telephone solution that Stewart says is the next
big thing for business communications.

“Cloud PBX is far
more cost-effective, efficient, and streamlined than
traditional phone systems and businesses that are getting on
board with it are reaping huge rewards with time and money
savings.”

When Stewart and co-founders Stuart Cowdell
and Glen Larsen started Digital Island in 2004 there was an
environment of customer hostility towards telcos that had
failed to provide the required level of service to their
existing customers.

In contrast to their competitors, the
founders employed a strategy to build Digital Island rapidly
while delivering best industry service, focussed mainly on
Auckland and carving a niche in the market by offering
personalised service and tailoring the right solutions to
clients’ needs.

Through referrals and word of mouth
Digital Island’s growth saw it achieve a Deloitte Fast 50
award three years running between 2007 and 2009 –
consistently putting it among the country’s fastest
growing companies. It was chosen as New Zealand’s fastest
growing technology business in 2008.

Today the company
employs 45 staff, has several-thousand business customers in
Auckland and throughout New Zealand, and has leading brand
clients such as Red Bull and The Giltrap Group.

Blair
Olliff, group financial controller of The Giltrap Group who
have been with Digital Island for two years, said the
benefits for the business of being with Digital Island were
the personal service and care they received as well as
excellent value for money.

“What we’ve found with
Digital Island compared to other telcos we were with is that
we really do feel like Digital Island actually cares about
us and our business,” Olliff said. “We get fast service
and the staff go out of their way to help us, as well as
ensuring we are getting the best deal with regular fine
tuning of what we need.”

“It was our dream to put
great service back into an industry that had become known
for bad customer service. It’s been about providing what
we like to call fanatical customer service, and it’s
working well for us. It’s important to give people what
they want and need, providing simple solutions that help
businesses run better without overcomplicating,” Stewart
says.

The company’s core customer base is predominantly
medium enterprises – the backbone of the New Zealand
business community.

“The next decade for us is going
to be huge – we have some great plans for our business
that will see us become a major player in the market,
building on our existing success, while always maintaining
our vision to be a telecommunications provider that brings
service and innovation to New Zealand businesses.”

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